Sunday, September 07, 2008

Fiber Fever

Yup, I've been self diagnosed with an acute case of woolleria addictivosa. Can you tell that I've been watching the House marathon? But really, I've been spinning like a mad woman. I don't know whats gotten into me but it seems like I've got non stop wool on the brain. By the end of this post, you guys will let me know if I need to go into a 12 step program or something like that.

We'll start from the earliest to the latest. First up is my spinning project from last post. The singles were super thin so I decided to navajo ply. That means that I ended up with a 3 ply but I lost major yardage doing it that way which doesn't bother me much. I have no knitting patterns planned for this yarn so for now, it will be my little piece of fiber eye candy.Here are the approximate specs:Yards: 113Weight: 2 ouncesWPI: 20/fingering weight

I only have one project sitting on the wheel right now. This is about 3 ounces of Ashland Bay Fiber that I purchased from the Yarn Tree a while ago. My buddie Ann ( side note: Hi Nancy, Hi Maribel, Hi Kathleen, Hi Cara) was spinning something similar last weekend and it reminded me that I had some sitting in the stash. I'm stripping the roving as I spin so the yarn doesn't get too muddy. I'm trying really hard not to spin this too thin being that I have plans for this yarn. It's roughly 24 wraps per inch which should be worsted weight once I ply it. I'm imagining a hat for the little one.Extreme close up. Aint it purty?

I've also been practicing my spinning skills a lot. My comfort zone is spinning high twist, very thin singles in a short forward draw. I wanted to practing spinging low twist singles in case I decide to offer some in my shop. I grabbed some merino roving that I've had for a very long time and got crackin. Here's my attempt at spinning singles and its not too shabby if I do say so myself.It's about sport weight and I think it could be knit into a lovely light little lacy scarflette (try saying that 3 times fast). This skein weighs around 1.25 ounces and is 106 yards.Yup, there's more. In preperation for Rhinebeck, I'm still trying to clear some room for this years haul. I decided to card up a Felters Fiber pack of wool that I got from Misty Mountain farm. It had a whole bunch of differnt wool in there. I can't wait to see how the yarn will come out.

Lastly, here's my newest sheep to FO project. Looking at the previews of the upcoming spin off magazine got me really excited about spinning woolen and worsted yarns. As I said before, I already practiced spinning low twist yarns, now I wanted to practice spinning long draw or woolen yarns. I did a search on videos and came up with this wonderful one. I tried her technique and guess what, it worked! It finally worked. I had tried so many times before to spin long draw and it just never worked out but this time it finally did. Here's my sample that I made out of my first woolen yarn (yay)I used some domestic wool that I purchased from RH Lindsay. The wool is not all that great but hey, you get what you pay for so I'm not complaning. I'm carding up a bunch of this stuff into light fluffy rolags. I'll most likely dye the yarn and then knit it into a vest.

I couldn't leave you guys with absolutely no knitting so here's my current commuter project. I'm knitting the Drop Stitch scarf even though I think there's another pattern out there that's very similar. I'm naming this the Fugly scarf. Yes I think this is coming out rather ugly and I'm refusing to give up on it. I promised myself that I would try to knit with my handspun more often and I'm going to try and stick by my word. Just try not to make fun of me when you see me rockin it this winter.

See what I mean about the fiber addiction thing? Do I need professional help. I think this years trip to Rhinebeck should cure me. What do you think?

13 comments:

Thanx for the link to the longdraw spinning. One of these days I'll study it a bit. I've been so scared of pulling the fiber apart. But I guess this means I just need to prep my roving better, huh?

I'm lovin all your spinning efforts. I know what you mean about wanting to branch out into different types of spinning. All I seem to get is laceweight, or bulky stuff that I've only got like 88 yards of and can barely make a hat. And really, one CAN have too many of those. ;)

lastly, I don't think your scarf is fugly. And I hope I DO get you see your rocking in this year. I'm kinda hoping it's not scarf-cold by Rhinebeck, but if it is.. then please wear it! :)